In the moment
by Whenloveistrue
Summary: "You're worth everything to me, Jemma. I just want you to know that," he whispered. The stakes are higher now and Fitz is finally able to confess his feelings for Simmons despite the consequence of doing so. Rated T for some mild language content.
1. Chapter 1

Fitz flew past tunnel after tunnel to no avail. She was gone; Ward had taken her. Ward, who had been Hydra after all they'd been through together. Ward, who he believed had been their friend had turned on them for the enemy organisation. As he continued down the paths, he heard the scuffling of footsteps and then he heard her scream.

"Fitz!" her voice rang through the dark, narrow winding tunnels, clawing at his heart.

"Jemma!" he screamed, his voice dripping with panic, "Ward, leave her be!"

He continued to run; running towards the emptiness of what lay ahead of him. Running towards the man he had once called a friend. Running towards the man that threatened the one he could not live without. Another cry of desperation rang through the darkness. Fitz turned on the spot; facing towards the left tunnel of a fork that stood before him. _She's going to die. This is all my fault. _Disoriented as he was, the constant repetition of such negative thoughts attacked his mind. _My fault. My fault. My fault. _Tears were burning in his eyes. Another scream struck him, more so that he could feel the pain she was enduring. He felt so close to her, yet he was still to reach her.

Finally, the tunnel ended and he burst into a small, dusty cavern. His eyes adjusted to the depressing darkness and he saw her. She was trapped in a life-threatening headlock in the arms of the traitorous bastard. Her eyes caught his and he was overwhelmed by the pain that filled the usually lovely and joyful brown eyes of hers.

"Fitz," she yelped again, her small hand reached for him.

"Ward, listen to me. You don't owe Garrett anything. You don't always have to follow him. You have a heart, more so than he does. I know you care about us. Please, let her go," Fitz let the words tumble out of his mouth. He took one step towards the two, his palms placed up as a sign of surrender.

"You don't understand, Fitz. I owe him everything," Ward's jaws locked as he took a slight step back, his arms tightened around Jemma's neck. Her delicate fingers clawed at Ward's forearms, desperately. He was running out of time.

"Fit-," she cried out in agony, her voice had become even smaller than it could have ever been.

"Jemma, it'll be okay. Ward, don't hurt her, please… Take me instead, but let her go," he pleaded with all his might.

"No, it has to be her. Garrett personally asked for her," Ward said, his tone of voice softened for a fraction of a second, "He wants to use her as a leverage over you."

"But… why?" Fitz asked, despite the obviousness in the statement.

"He needs you to create a device for his specific purposes and he knows you wouldn't be willing to do anything for him unless he has her," he replied, pointedly gazing down at Jemma who looked absolutely terrified; so much so that it made Fitz want to barrel towards Ward with all the force he could possibly muster.

"Tell Garrett I'll do it, on one condition: you have to let her go," he said. Jemma's eyes flew wide open.

"Fitz, don't do it. Please don't. Not for me. I'm not worth it," the words tumbled out of her mouth without thought of consequence.

"You're worth everything to me, Jemma. I just want you to know that," he whispered, avoiding her gaze. He heard a sharp intake of breath originate from her small, porcelain lips.

"Now, let her go."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two **

"As you wish," Ward said menacingly, pointing the _ICER_ at Jemma before pulling the trigger. Fitz rushed to catch her delicate form as Ward suddenly released his hold on her and lowered her gently onto the ground.

"Hurry along, Garrett needs your assistance as soon as possible. Follow me," Ward commanded, "Don't even think about trying to escape."  
He pulled out 32 calibre round pistol and shoved the barrel of the end to the side of Fitz's temple. Fitz slowly raised his hands, palms facing forward in a reluctant surrender and started walking towards the Bus.

Agonising hours pass when Fitz heard the Bus touch down onto a landing runaway. Ward guided him from tight-locked room in which Fitz was kept to the cargo hold of the Bus.

The Fridge looked completely different from the last time Fitz remembered it to be. Rubble was strewn everywhere and it was clear that most of the cells and storage rooms had been cleared out of all that they had previously contained.

"Why are we here? I thought you were going to take me to Garrett," Fitz demanded. He could feel the point of the pistol digging into the small of his back as he guided Fitz through the unstable building of the Fridge.

"I am," Ward replied. He shoved Fitz through a blasted hole in the wall, through to what had been a previous hazardous items storage room.

Where there should have been rows of shelves ordered around the room, there now stood a high-class control centre. A rotating chair had been placed meticulously in the centre of it all and, in it, Garett sat watching the monitors.

"Well, you certainly took your time," Garrett remarked with his eyebrows raised, "Did Coulson and his team give you any trouble?"

"No, sir. I took care of them," Ward replied, ignoring the taunting tone in Garrett's own voice.

"Good. And did you remember to make sure that they couldn't follow?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, now let's get down to business then," Garrett said as he turned to face Fitz.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

**A/N:**_ Don't own any of the characters, by the way. Sorry for not updating so much in Chapter Two, I've just been really busy with assignments and so on. Please review on whether or not you like the story so far and where I could improve on in my writing. I appreciate all criticism – both positive and negative. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I decided to add a Simmons POV in this chapter, hopefully it works well with the story…_

_**Simmons**_

Simmons awoke in the dark cavern alone, her head throbbing with nausea. She looked around, confused for a moment until her recollections of what had previously happened struck her.

"Fitz!" she cried into the darkness, though she knew full well that no one would answer. She struggled to stand up. _Damn that Night Night pistol_, she thought. She checked her pockets for her comms receiver, only to find the space in both her jean and jacket pockets empty of all her belongings. As a last resort, she scanned the cavern for any trace of her belongings, and where Ward and Fitz had disappeared to. She found two set of footsteps that lead off further into the pitch-black tunnels, but no comms receiver, flashlights nor any spare _ICER_ guns.

"Hello?" her voice echoed into the never-ending darkness.

"Simmons?" she heard a familiar voice echo back. _Skye! _A small beam of light pointed towards her direction and she took off running towards her saviour.

"Where's Fitz?!" Skye wondered after she had pulled away from their hug, her eyes full of overwhelming concern for their missing teammate.

"Ward took him," her own voice wobbled a bit at the thought of Fitz's courageous sacrifice. _He offered himself up for HER. _Tears threatened to spill from her cheeks, but she stood her ground and quickly brushed them away before Skye had any time to notice them.

"Well, we're getting him back," Skye announced, her voice full of the same brave determination that Fitz had when he willingly announced that he would work for Garrett in exchange for her safety. She drew the Night Night pistol that was hidden in the back of her jeans and set off in the direction she had come from. Simmons could do nothing, but follow.

_**Fitz **_

"Where's that bio-tech gal of yours, huh?" Garrett asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "Did she find another engineer that was actually worth her time?"

Fitz ignored his taunts, despite the fact that he felt like attacking Garrett for his vile behaviour. His fingers worked numbly at Garrett's side. As soon as he was settled in, he was ordered to re-calibrate Garrett's _Deathlok_ technology and work on replacing the ground wires that connected Garrett's internal mechanical structure.

"Too bad she isn't here. She could have been a great help to me," he sneered. Fitz could hear the twisted smile that formed at his mouth. "I did ask Ward to bring her too, you know, but Ward's always had a weakness in him," he continued as Fitz worked on the mechanics that were now a part of him.

"She's out of your hair. You can't hurt her," Fitz replied, anger bubbling up within him.

"Oh, don't worry, m' boy. That was never my intention for her." Garrett smirked in reply. Garrett paused as Ward entered the room.

"Sir, we're being pursued," Ward reported without even glancing at Fitz's direction.

"By whom? I thought you said you got rid of them!" Garrett hissed, his uneasiness seeped through his normally proper emotionless mask.

"I'm not entirely sure by whom, sir. I took care of both Coulson and May, and left Skye alone with Simmons in the tunnels," Ward reported.

_Jemma, please don't. _Fitz prayed with all his might that Simmons wouldn't choose to do anything reckless, but knowing her, his prayers would never be answered.

"Well, why are you still standing here for?! Get rid of them," Garrett ordered, his mouth twisted into an unforgiving snarl as Ward hurried out of the room.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four **

**A/N: **_This chapter is only told in Simmons' POV with a hint of Skimmons as they figure out the most tactical way to save Fitz from the enemy hands. Fair warning there is some mild, vulgar language content in this chapter. p.s. sorry if I won't be able to update the story as much after this chapter. Semester Two begins on Monday for me and I haven't even completely finished any of my assignments and other homework… _

_**Simmons **_

"Skye! Where are you going? We've got to find Coulson and May first otherwise then we have absolutely no hope of successfully rescuing Fitz," Simmons hissed under her breath, for fear of being caught.

"I am finding them. Their tracker shows that they're close by. We just need to pinpoint their exact location," Skye replied in a low voice, wary of the overwhelming number of Garrett's goons that occupied the previous SHIELD facility.

"How are we supposed to do that? What, with all these Hydra followers swarming the premises," Simmons asked. She eyed Skye uncertainly, dreading what her fellow teammate's answer would be to the circumstance.

Skye turned to face Simmons, her eyes burning with a fiery determination. "Do you trust me?" she asked the petite bio-chem expert standing in front of her.

"Skye, what are you planning to-, " Simmons started to say, but her words were soon cut off as Skye's hand clamped over her mouth, while she pressed another finger to her lips.

"Trust me, I've got a plan," Skye muttered under her breath. She grabbed Simmons' wrist and led her to a small cupboard in an unmanned hallway, just a few steps away from their location. She gently pushed Simmons inside before quietly shutting the doors in on themselves.

Simmons started to say something, but Skye pressed her finger to the other girl's lips indicating silence. She looked down at the small tablet she carried, where two spots pulsed repeatedly within a dark background. _Coulson and May, _Simmons thought to herself.

"Okay, we know where May and Coulson are, we just need to figure out how to get there discreetly," Skye announced, her eyes calculating.

"You know, if we had access to the D.W.A.R.F.s from here, we can send one to somehow manipulate the access panel to the room they're being kept in," Simmons speculated, "Fitz would have known how to operate the D.W.A.R.F.s from here." She sighed, exasperated at how useless she was with technology compared to Fitz. Sure, she had helped him more than a few times, but he was the one that was truly at one with all the gadgets and technological aspect of their dynamic.

"But we do have access to the D.W.A.R.F.s from here," Skye replied, holding up the tablet that cast an eerie glow on them in the darkened cupboard. Without hesitation, her fingers flew over the tablet and another video image popped up on the screen replacing the pulses that represented Coulson and May.

"That's the lab," Simmons exclaimed, before clamping her mouth up quickly as she realised that they were surrounded by more than one hundred Hydra followers.

Skye continued to press buttons on the tablet. The image on the interface showed a camcorder view from Sleepy as it flew effortlessly towards the room where they knew that Coulson and May were being kept. The view showed a tight-locked metal door, guarded on both sides by two heavily armed followers of Garrett.

"We need to create a distraction for those guys," Skye muttered under her breath, speaking mostly to herself. She switched the tablet to display a digital blueprint of the facility. "Ah-ha! Distraction created," she said with a proud smirk on her lips. Once again, she changed the screen to take control of Sleepy once again where the video receiver displayed the same metal door, empty of guards.

"How did you manage tha-," Simmons started to wonder before the cupboard door suddenly burst open. For a moment, they were blinded by the light of the outside world.

"They're in here, sir," a deep voice announced to the other blurry figures that crowded around behind him. He grabbed both Skye's tablet and Night Night gun from her grasps, before locking his bulky fingers around Skye's wrists. Another man reached around his teammate and clasped Simmons' wrists tightly. The two girls were hauled out of their hiding place.

"Well, lookie what we have here," an all too familiar voice echoed around the room sending shivers down her spine, "that bio-tech gal of yours decided to join the party after all, Fitz!"

Simmons looked up from the boots of the man that had been responsible for all their pain and for the fall of SHIELD. Her glance followed the small figure that was being held back by Ward who stood at Garrett's side. _Fitz!_ Her whole being wanted to scream with worry, concern and, overall, love at the sight of him. His eyes met hers and she was hit with an overwhelming amount of exactly the same emotions that were coursing through her veins. She turned around to glance back at Skye who was struggling with all her might against the guard that pinned her arms back.

"You're a disgusting son of a bitch, you know," she spat in the direction of both Garrett and Ward. Garrett sneered at Skye.

"Take them to the Bus. I'm sure Raina will be pleased to have fresh test subjects for that miracle drug she's working on," he barked, his face twisted with that mad smile of his.

"No!" Simmons heard Fitz cry out, desperately. Their eyes met in the chaos and she could feel the dizziness taking over her senses. She felt two strong hands grasping her shoulders, dragging her on to her feet before forcing her towards the direction of the Bus.

"Shut him up," she heard Garrett growl at Ward and Fitz's direction. She could hear Skye kicking and screaming profanities at Ward and Garrett, she could hear Garrett's own deep voice barking orders at the men that crowded around him, she could hear the clomp of the guards' boots against the floor, but what she really took in was the sound of Fitz crying out for her so desperately, the sound of Fitz screaming her name over and over again was the only thing she could truly hear. The rest of the noise were just background static to her – it was Fitz's voice that was the tuned-in frequency.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

**A/N: **_An unexpected character we've previously met makes an appearance in this chapter. I was a bit sceptical about introducing this character into the story, but I wanted to include a surprising twist and hopefully I didn't ruin the progression of this fic with this character's inclusion. Anyway, I hope y'all enjoy the chapter. _

_**Fitz **_

"JEMMA!" he screamed until his voice was hoarse, desperately, but to no avail, fighting against the restraints of Ward's bulky arms. He saw glimpses of her, also fighting against her captor, desperately trying to find Fitz amongst the chaos of the crowd.

CRASH! BANG! Fitz turned towards the sound, as did all the others. May, armed with only two ICER pistols, attacked up to four of Garrett's men at a time. He followed the other guards' view to where Coulson stood, at a higher level, heavily armed with many of Fitz's gadgets. From where he perched, he took shots from a distance at the rest of Garrett's goons. As Garrett barked orders, the men started shooting at both May and Coulson. Ward dragged Fitz towards cover while bullet shots were fired everywhere.

Fitz scanned the room for Simmons, quickly spotting her by the landing bay of the Bus. He started to move towards her, despite the chaos that surrounded him.

_**Simmons**_

Even from a great distance, Simmons quickly met Fitz's eyes and her mouth began to shape his name when the bullet struck her, burying itself towards the farther left of her body, just below her ribcage. She looked down at the blood that had quickly started to pool at her chest and her vision started to blur. She could faintly hear screams and the continuation of gunfire before she blacked out into oblivion.

_**Fitz **_

Fitz screamed her name over and over again, still fighting against the crowd to reach her. He saw her collapse as the bullet found its target by burying itself within her.

"No!" he yelled, tears stinging his eyes. Blinded by tears, he continued running. He needed to reach her, he couldn't lose her now after all they've been through.

"Jemm-" a hand clamped down on his mouth before he could finish saying her name. He thrashed against his captor, his eyes focused on the limp figure of his Jemma crumpled in Skye's arms. He couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy towards Skye despite the seriousness of the situation because, really, he should be the one holding her. He continued to kick and scream at his attacker.

"Stop struggling. I'm here to help," a somewhat familiar voice hissed in his ear. The stranger dragged him from view away from the exposure of the floor, before releasing Fitz. Fitz turned to face the stranger, his arms locked in a protective stance with his fists up. The stranger removed the balaclava from his face to reveal, to Fitz's surprise, Miles, but he soon forgot his shock as thoughts of Simmons lying helplessly in Skye's arms suddenly shuddered him back into reality.

"I need to get to Jemma," he said, monotone, his face hidden behind an unreadable mask.

"Skye's with her. She'll be fine," Miles replied.

"Did you even see what happened out there?! Or were you and I in two different places?!" Fitz was screaming now, his despair to find her was clearly evident.

"Look, I'm sorry but I'm not going out there again. I'm not risking my life again," he said, sullenly, "But I promise you, Skye will take care of your girl."

"Then why are you here?" Fitz asked, his voice dripping with a steely edge. "There are risks all around us – there are risks to living. What will your life eventually lead to if you're not willing to take those risks?" His shoulders started to shake, ever-so-slightly, as the tears began to spill from his eyes.

"I'm going back for her," he announced, averting his eyes away from Miles before he took off running towards the landing bay of the Bus. Despite the loud screams and endless sounds of gunfire, Fitz did not stop to think about the danger he was placing himself under – he just thought of her, of how he was going to lose her if he didn't reach her in time.


End file.
